S. Sudan defends removal of over 100 senior military officers from active service

February 17, 2013 (JUBA) - South Sudan on Sunday defended its decision to remove 118 senior military officers from active military service and place them on reserve, a move seen as an attempt to transform the security sector, according to the minister of information.

A SPLA officer keeps an eye on crowds gathered for Southern Sudan President and elections candidate Salva Kiir’s last election rally in Juba, Friday April 9, 2010. (AP)

The order, which drew mixed reactions from the general public, includes senior officials serving in the civil administration.

The presidential decree issued on Thursday saw the names of the governor of Unity state, Taban Deng Gai, governor of Eastern Equatoria state Louis Lobong Lojore, governor of Western Bahr el Ghazal state Rizik Hassan Zachariah and the governor of Upper Nile state, Simon Kun Puoc removed from the active military files.

The move followed the removal in January of some 35 top-level military officers, seen as the biggest shake-up to army leadership since South Sudan’s independence in July 2011. President Salva Kiir issued the order and has since appointed replacements for the officers who were previously serving, most of whom were rebel commanders during the war with the north.

SECURITY REFORM

Senior officials attribute the changes to government policy aimed at transforming the security sector and other institutions in order to provide services effectively and efficiently.

Insiders say the move is the first of a series of broader reforms. Once the army has been overhauled, it is expected that the government will move on to the security forces, police, public services and eventually the cabinet.

South Sudan’s minister information and broadcasting service, Barnaba Marial Benjamin, said the president was acting within the law and according to public demands to transform the national army away from perceptions of it as a guerrilla movement to a professional body.

“The president was not acting outside the law. He was exercising the powers conferred upon him by the transitional constitution. The changes were meant to basically promote growth in the system. It means giving responsibilities of managing the affairs of this country to the fresh group, people with new ideas which needs to be tried since we are living in the fast moving and developing world”, Marial said.

He said there were still many other opportunities in the country in different areas in which the removed army generals could participate in to help the new nation to grow.

“There are a lot of opportunities which these general will exploit. Some of these generals have administrative background, they have security background, they have business background and they have agriculture background. It will be an opportunity to utilise their knowledge in establishing and managing private security firms in accordance with the parameters of the law.

"Doing so will bring a positive change in the economy of this country. In fact everybody would be happy to hear that all these retired generals have started producing millions of metric tonnes of food in the next harvesting season which they could not have done while in the active service”, Marial told reporters on Sunday.

However, members of the general public remain skeptical about plans to reassign some of the officers who were removed due to perceptions associated with their performance and competence while serving in the army at different levels.

Meanwhile, Marial has dismissed claims of an alleged coup plot purportedly fermented by some of the generals as one of the reasons behind the president’s decision to embark on security reforms.

“The president still trusts them [the generals]. He has hope in them and they should show good examples in accepting the changes. I know the president may be planning to [re-]assign some of them. Others have actually been assigned. Those who have requested to go for studies will be facilitated so that they can go and get the knowledge they might need to help them while trying to settle and fit into the society”, he explained.

Marial also said that removed officers should feel proud that they had witnessed the birth of the new nation and the achievement of the objectives for which they fought so hard for during the country’s protracted civil war with the north, adding that he encouraged them to support good governance and accept the changes with good grace.

LONG AWAITED DEMAND

Tut Chuol Lam, a native of Languchuk in Upper Nile state currently visiting Juba, described the president’s decision to introduce changes in the military as in line with public opinion on the matter.

“The decision of the president is in the right one. It is one of the long awaited demands of the public. There are those who are not fit to serve in the army but they have been there just for the sake of money. There are a lot of opportunities but which cannot be identified when we focus on why so and so were removed from the army. The new officers should not sleep. Time is up for them to do a lot. They need to make a difference. [They should] start from where their predecessors have left and prepare the ground for those who will [come] after them, as it was for those they have replaced”, Lam told Sudan Tribune on Saturday.

He said he was aware of the different views generated by the changes, but added the majority supported the president’s decision as being good for the country.

In discussions with those opposed to the move, Lam said most of those complaining about the changes were “either affected themselves directly or some of their close family members or relatives”.

He said the decision had caught some by surprise and there was now speculation over what will happen to the officers if they are not immediately re-assigned elsewhere.

"From my analysis, it likes some were taken by the surprise and have started speculating about what will happen if these groups are not assigned immediately. Some individuals have expressed views indicating that the changes were made due to the exhibited lack of discipline, lack of competence like physical strength to remain in the active military services, corruption and other malpractices during their period of service”, he explained.

Bol Wek, a native of Warrap State in Juba said the president was acting in response to public demands to improve the general security situation and reduce the size of government institutions.

“I see these changes as answers to demands of the general public. We have had members of the general public who elected the president repeatedly complaining about security situation in the country and the size of the government,” Wek told Sudan Tribune on Saturday. .

"There have been talks about the need for transformation in all the institutions of government in order to build a strong nation," he added.

There is speculation the Kiir is planning a major cabinet reshuffle to improve service delivery and governance. The move is believed to be facing strong resistance from senior members of his own party - the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) - who stand to lose their positions.

South Sudan leader relieves senior officers from active service

Text of report in English by state-owned South Sudan TV on 14 February:

Republican decree number 25 for the year 2013, for the relieve of SPLA
[Sudan People’s Liberation Army] officers from active service and
their transfer to the reserve list 2013 AD.

Title and commencement

This decree shall be cited as Republican Decree number 25 for the year 2013, for the relieve of SPLA officers from active service and their transfer to reserve list 2013 AD, and shall come into forces on the date of its signature by the president of the republic.

The decree

In exercise of the powers conferred upon me under article 153/2 of the Transitional Constitution of the Republic of South Sudan 2011 AD, read together with section 13/B of the SPLA Act 2009, I, Gen Salva Kiir Mayardit, President of the Republic of South Sudan and Commander-In-Chief of the SPLA, do hereby issue this Republican Decree
for the relieve of SPLA officers from the active service and their transfer to the reserve list as follows:

Issued under my hand and seal of the Republic of South Sudan in Juba, this 14 day of the month of February in the year 2013 AD.

Signed: Gen Salva Kiir Mayardit, President and Commander-In-Chief of the Sudan People’s Liberation Army, Republic of South Sudan, Juba.

Comments on the Sudan Tribune website must abide by the following rules. Contravention of these rules will lead to the user losing their Sudan Tribune account with immediate effect.

- No inciting violence
- No inappropriate or offensive language
- No racism, tribalism or sectarianism
- No inappropriate or derogatory remarks
- No deviation from the topic of the article
- No advertising, spamming or links
- No incomprehensible comments

Due to the unprecedented amount of racist and offensive language on the site, Sudan Tribune tries to vet all comments on the site.

There is now also a limit of 400 words per comment. If you want to express yourself in more detail than this allows, please e-mail your comment as an article to comment@sudantribune.com

Kind regards,

The Sudan Tribune editorial team.

18 February 2013 05:51, by Jalaby

The real reason behind the removal is lack of cash, no money to pay to them and you know their salaries and benefits are so high!
I’m very sure the oil money they stole will make them very rich people in the world up to their 7th generation!

Dear!J
Thought from the very beginning, when things first began to collapse, that what the collapse meant had everything to do with whether it was real or created. When people are hungry and frightened they will agree to almost anything. My apprehensions arose anew when the Kiir Nations was elected to office, the most extreme left-wing radical to ever occupy the splm offices are doing.

I can do things throught my influence,I thank God for that, we need no more Generals as we used to do , some of fake general were promoted by Bashir to execute his evil deed against Dinkas, everyone must go home to live normal life, one man we will never remove is LT Gen Kuol Manyang Juuk is potential defend or president of this country and every army officer has a big respect for him, thank you

kiir his days started to be end on earth he will follow Garang as soon as possible let us prayer God forgive our president he don’t know what to do let his soul raise in peace he is a less a man in all over the World pleace Father foooooooooooooooorive him we know as you know he is a sinsfull just forgive him long lives Dr Machar gstnyagonyang jin ruiec wicdu goa ni mi teek gueth Riek Machar jin r

I know those who are afraid of Kuol Manayang Juuk will not like but We will never remove LT Gen Kuol Juuk because he is the watchdog of this country. Otherwise he’ll will rumble in our SPLA party, army love Kuol Juuk the non defector,

Kiir is now realising the disadvantage of promoting illitrate Dinka renegades whose motive is to loot from the South Sudanese people. since there is no oil money,cowboy has no option apart from halting thier accomodation. the days of Kiir and his looting Dinka team are numbered.

Master,
1st lady of the republic of Sudan, how was your morning fucking with bashit? Jobless idiot who is possess with south sudan internal affairs.Mr. Illiterate gay,watch your rotten mouth full of ’asawut’.

For governors, president kiir removed military rank and remain as civil servant as governor without military sound. but to understand well president kiir did not sacked four of them from governorship after Chol Tong Mayay.

I can do things throught my influence,I thank God for that, we need no more Generals as we used to do , some of fake general were promoted by Bashir to execute his evil deed against Dinkas, everyone must go home to live normal life, one man we will never remove is LT Gen Kuol Manyang Juuk is potential defend or president of this country and every army officer has a big respect for him, thank you

Guys its a policy of our Government to remove the Generals as Degreed by the President in accordance to whatever either SPLA Military Council Regulations or RSS Transitional Consitution.
Second. These Gens. are not dismissed but put in reserved SPLA List.
Third Let us wait for the further arrangement of SPLA.
Let us use our Intellactuality instead of Offensive words

Good Governance, pliz educated those of DDS and his likes. These Gen. were not fired but instead put in reserved force. Who does not understand what is reserved forces here?. In UG the bro of M7 Sallim Sally is the commander of reserved force of UG. These Gen. will be consulted in case of any offense by outsiders. pliz stop u useless criticism on this web if u have nothing to contribute.

The removal of our senior military officers is normal. It is time for them to rest and start opening their private companies.
Our money is being taken by privates security agencies such as, Warriors,KK Security etc... These gallants retired officers had all those capacities to start their own in which they will serve with diginity because they are supporting their country.

I know those who are afraid of Kuol Manayang Juuk will not like but We will never remove LT Gen Kuol Juuk because he is the watchdog of this country. Otherwise he’ll will rumble in our SPLA party, army love Kuol Juuk the non defector,

Hi Dinka D, You are mistaken. Kuol time will come and he will go like any other officers. We have the best watchdog of this country who did not participate in killing innocent people. Soon you will see or hear their names and they will be like guiding stars to our country South Sudan.

Dinka dominate shit
what do u mean when u say we cant remove lt kuol manyang juuk n i dont see ur ass in any post in sinior government n no body is afraid of juuk as u claim he be removed any time soon. what ur doin is inciting hatred in s. sudan ur nothin bt a traitor. a dead dog is better off than ur sorry ass
mother fucker cock sucker. ur true identity if we talk about truth ur an agent 4rm khartoum.

First of all you are dumb, second to it, you are poor, thirdly, you are uneducated foolish, fourthly your English is disgusting website, fiveth, you are a son of food lover, sixth, you are nothing but street kid with no future, seventh, I don’t speak your useless language because I’m not in your league,
Go and find your type,

Dinka dominated shit
Oh am dumb now? so were do u work coz no body knows were u work ur jz an enemy within! ur jz a pain in the ass! do u get what am sayin? can u show ur self 2 me personally n stop hiding behind bars man n u says ur holdin nyagateen were if ur not a rebel who is mentally retarded jz show ur true self if ur not a coward....

I have pity on you Dinka Dominated teethless. You better measure who you are and what you are writing. Your contribution have no any value to this website.
Adjust your mind and come back to your sense. Contribute something which is meaninglful. You comment about english, do you know that your sentences are not matching grammatically?
Soon Kuol will be looking after his cattle.

Gud work done president Kiir,
My dear S.M.officers , do not give up in the development for our new nation, the government is ours you are still very important in this nation your rights as South Sudanese are still calms , plise share some ideas with your bros, and Sists
I really appreciated the Min. of Information Barnaba Marial for his statement in this article he is giving the gud remarks to ...

Kuol was already relieved from army since to 2005 if u dont know that then u are fools.. Kuol himself told the news when he was asked to be Defence Minster last time…he stated that he is not going back to army just only civilians job.. second, it is reform of nation to limit the army numbers..for burget ..but it is not those relieved are not good..but we know u are insane mind,@D.Dominate

Of course you will not know since your gangs party called sim is dead long time ago, do you know where I work? You be sorry if you k ow me otherwise just late me say what I know because I’m holding all your nyagateen in my hands,
Kuol never leave the army and the army will never late Kuol go, Kuol is the second powerful man in south Sudan everyone know it,

To useless Dinka Dominated SPLA/M:You are the most unwanted rubbish in SOuth Sudan.You deserve to be burned and die quite in with rubbishes there! You are symbol of death and shame to your family aka Ngok who sold out their land to Arabs.Bullshit
The Nuer Empire

Pif Paf,
Which coup are you talking about? Listen President Kiir is not a fugitive leader nor is he a power usurper like criminal Bashir. Changes are normal in any old or new country. It is only NCP cabals and your likes that tirelessly campaign and preach misfortunes in South Sudan. This is a mere dream which won’t happen. Plse don’t divert our attention. Sudan series of coups are known.

Kindmaker,
The possibility of a coup on kiir is very real my friend. Did u not hear about the rumor’s in Juba recently? Even Kiir himself addressed this issue & warned his general not to attempt it. A coup could actually be S.Sudan’s only hope before it disintegrates. Even your friends in the US are now saying this is a possibility.

Pif Paf,
These are mere rumors that came from Khartoum’s evil design__a nation that usually bases its official reports about South Sudan on falsehoods, manufactured lies. Rumors are never translated into coups though decision-makers in Sudan think along that line. Coups are good non-democratic countries like Sudan that imposes its outdated version of Shari’a law and returns that country

the path of an unfortunate obscurantism__primitive life current nations can’t stand to afford. No any amount of evil intention can make us disintegrate as a nation in anyway. NCP tried thousand times but all in vain. Instead, it is my advice for you to overthrow Bashir illegimately-elected Government before the ICC comes in, let alone SRF(Sudan black power) recovers its stolen power since 1821.

Jojo,
The issue is used by Master for propaganda purpose. How many coups did Bashir-led Government foil? In Africa, it’s normal to maintain or overthrow any Government regardless of the means it came to power. What moral authority does NCP Bashir have to talk about deomcratic governance after 24 years of autocracy and misrule? Do you call that denial of truth Mr Jojo?

There was/is no dire need to reform SPLA. What needs immediate reform is corrupt and degrade SPLM- start with Salva Kiir himself. If anything else, it’s police force. With war of reoccupation of South Sudan loomingfrom NiF. You got to be stupid on your timing messing up SPLA structures.

Guys, if Kiir dismissed all Nuer’s Gens..do u think it will help him to stay in power for another ten years?..I dont think so..if people realisze that he is doing something else than Reform, believe me ..anyswer will be the worse ..let us put it as a Reform..Kiir is our president … not tribe president..let him do his job without interrupt him…we will see the results soon..

i know SPLM members and pro-SPLM could support any decision iusse by kiir and then cry like women as they did when kiir shut dowm oil and now they are in dilamme and begging sudan to allow their oil to pass
tomorrow you will cry for what kiir did when these sacked GL form new rebellion
i wish BAD LUCK

Master,
Since figutive Bashir usurped power in 1989, how many army officers did he purge? Did he do that in bad faith and cling to power as he is still doing? Go anywhere and you won’t miss reforms in the army, security sector, Govt. and civil service, etc. What is so sepcial about South Sudan that pains you if not selfish concerns? It is time SPLA and other forces be transformed and reformed.

Master,
What do you call the one conducted close to two weeks ago in Germany with active Sudan participation? Is Sudan not under fiancial pressure? Jay is right. Muslim Sudan has been on begging spree in the name of Islam since 1956. It’s a fact that that shouldn’t be denied. Sudan imposed itself on Arab fold for fiancial gains only as it does not have true, recognized Arab and Islamic character.

Master,
Sudan is not food self-reliant for its own citizens alone. USA is a close friend to South Sudan. It can come in anytime to help our natural disaster victims that can strike anywhere. Don’t you sympathize with those victims? Germany is not looking for investment opportunity per se. The conference it held in its territory is to rescue cash-starved Sudan.

If Kiir’s activities come tribal man activities..then people will answer him in stronger term,…whether he retired every gen from Nuer we will still have answer .. to us it is not a big deal..to retire our Nuer gens… it will make it looks very clear…but he is not doing that ..that is why I support his decision

Those general are brothers,sisters,they can run with big belley. We need young officers with few general. old general must come to publice service and political civillians to develope the country by working at civill administration. They can not be in the fronline for their life. They need to works as civillians.

To empty brain.
remember there is no military officer who don’t retied in this world. this country is not for one person to stay in office until he die like Gadafa who died in the office.
mr president that is good move remain some cabinets that you misplaced them in wrong position who failed to deliver service to the citizen.

The move will not pave the way to convention instead it will frustrate it. But by any mean Salva will not come back to power unless only if we are not born in this country. your plot is clueless, all this removed will one day come back to military.

You removed Tabang bcoz he declared himself to be Nuer n suspended the 1m budget to Warrap, Simon Kun thesame. why not Kuol Manyang who finished Jonglei pple? Salva as my president, I don’t want even to see ur image on SSTV or anymedia as u are a failure. ur plot is to consolidate ur own Dinka. Shame on lawless ppl. we meet in field(Election)
u will win unless u raised all deceased ppl to life.

he who is not happy with this changes is a fool. these generals are the corrupt people who assume that they are guerrilla fighters, they do not want to deliver service to the will of people of south Sudan but they just want to fill their pockets with money. when ask why they don’t service accordingly they say that they have suffered in fighting for this country (pan ci ok koth guor thin).

Wow replacement ahh, think deeply people the order was an hidden political system that Salva Kiir did, so that he can cheat 2014 election. Those who replace the current official are the Kiir favorite people.

The 62nd anniversary of Torit popular uprising 2017-08-17 00:23:12
By Arop Madut Arop
As the people of the Republic of South Sudan mark and celebrate the 62nd anniversary of August 18th, 1955 Torit uprising, it would extremely be important to recall the events (...)

What is the value of water?2017-08-14 21:28:25
By Innocent Ntabana
When you and I breathe in fresh air, the amount I inhale affects you in no way. This is because air is abundant and so there’s plenty of it to go around. We actually take it (...)

The paradox of weapons collection in Darfur 2017-08-13 09:13:14
By Mahmoud A. Suleiman
As a Sudanese people who long for stability, peace and security, we have no objection to the decision to collect unlicensed weapons throughout Sudan, but our reservation (...)

New group formed to gather Nuer in United States 2017-08-17 14:15:50
DECLARATION FOR THE FORMATION OF NUD TO BRING TOGETHER ALL NUER IN THE U.S.A Press Statement
The Nuer Union For Development (NUD)
The United State of America
The State of Nebraska August 15, (...)